[NYanakiev]

Available to order now, ships out first week of March (UK)

EDIT: preorder placed with Audio Concierge!

 

[maslarge]

It makes sense if I want to use it both on my desktop and around the house. Ideally, I'd like to have it on my desk while I work for the day, and then unplug it for some more serious listening on the couch at night. You can't really do that with a RPI solution. Again, all my listening is through Roon. But I'd like the option to switch over to USB while at my computer for calls, videos, etc.

Currently, I've got it plugged in via usb out the back. This actually works great and seems to make sense for desktop use, as I have just the headphone out the front.

 

[DaddyWhale]

I don't even know if this is a thing: could you use a male Ethernet to male micro USB adapter to get USB connectivity back? Of course you might lose Ethernet connectivity

 

[maslarge]

I just noticed it has airplay. That might be my solution since I have a Mac. I don't really care about audio quality when it's just YouTube or a phone call.

I know I was being negative, but I definitely am still really interested in this product!

 

[kkrazik2008]

Reading these posts is a lesson on qualitative analysis, it is quite fascinating to read the responses on a product without an official release. The initial posts read like a focus group, and demonstrate the bias, level of knowledge, and use cases on potential owners of this Chord combo. Essentially, its free data for companies like Chord and others to use on future products.

We should all receive a discount for providing our feedback (sarcasm)

 

[Christer]

Unfortunately an iPhone, Android Phone or tablet IS required. Just like the Poly/Mojo which I have. It normally sits idle as my DAP does everything it can except for the Roon integration which is very nice if you are using around the house mobile.

Well, that's exactly what I guessed and feared Chord would deliver.

A very delayed product that can't even compete with a cheap DAP in functionality but has all the bells and whistles fanboys are asking for like ROON ready, Tidal ,Quboz and other streaming platforms that can easily go out of business when you least expect it.
Both Quboz and Tidal have been in very dire straights not long ago.

And quite frankly, unless these toys prove to sound MUCH better than my MBP/Qutest/HMS via usb and optical out from a cd player,my personal interest in these two once again VERY expensive new toys from Chord if one looks at what they deliver is VERY limited indeed.

It would have been nice and at least a bit tempting if it/they had at least worked as simply and consumer-friendly as basically ALL CHEAP DAPs already do.

But NO, not from Chord!

A H2 even bigger and less pocketable and with those horrible VERY sharp corners on an even bigger scale, on a unit that is marketed as portable is NOT anything I'd want to carry around.

Yes my Qutest has also got VERY sharp corners but I don't hold it in my hand or carry it around more than in my backpack on travels.

But maybe instead of the control screen the Asian companies can EASILY add on products selling for as low as 100€ or less in their smart solution DAPs, it would NOT surprise me if Chord has another specially made 100€ matching SOFT warm leather case up their sleeve for their fanboys.


I'm sure all Chord fanboys will drool over these toys for months even if all they do is add more expensive little boxes to their systems, but turn out to offer no increase in SQ over what can already be achieved with much cheaper solutions in combination with the MScaler.

What's the point of adding SD cards ports if you can't play what's on them without a smartphone or an iPad?

And don't tell me nobody asked for a control screen on 2Go!

For me personally if I want to avoid having to connect my mbp laptop to my HMS I think I will get a cheap DAP instead.

Rob Watts himself has claimed that he gets excellent results with his moblie phone connected to a H2.
That seems like a soo much SMARTER solution.

Quite honestly the ONLY reason I am using Chord's products is the MScaler!
And that has ALL got to do with SQ!
Nothing else.
Basically everything else I want and expect from HIFI products in general and portable ones in particular, is imho, much better served by other companies.
Both design and functionality.
Cheers CC

 

[supervisor]

What's the point of adding SD cards ports if you can't play what's on them without a smartphone or an iPad?

who does NOT own a smartphone? the whole point is that phones will keep coming out, and will still be able to control these Chord devices no matter what. DAPs have limited lifespans based on technology, GoFigure is immune from that if it's controlled from the current iteration of any smartphone on the market. it's the best remote control.

 

[supervisor]

my biggest concern right now is pre-ordering these new devices only to find out they ship in ~November 2020.

 

[pjw241142]

I’d like to see if Chord has cracked superior quality from an SD card (ripped CDs) as the source in the 2go into a Hugo 2. I’m not a technical user and still find Poly in Hotspot mode and a third party app (Glider/ Rigelian et al) difficult and clunky.

Plug and play would be good from the SD card and then headphone out from the Hugo 2.

If people are at CanJam in NY over the weekend, could they comment on this scenario

 

[maslarge]

I see the real value of this product in using it around your home. That's not something you can do with a Qutest or other desktop DAC, and eliminates the need to have two separate setups for your desk and living area. I definitely can't envision myself carrying this around everyday as a truly portable device.

 

[Progisus]

As a Poly/Mojo user I think Chord missed the boat when they did not have a control app as part of GoFigure (which you need on your phone anyway).

 

[Christer]

who does NOT own a smartphone? the whole point is that phones will keep coming out, and will still be able to control these Chord devices no matter what. DAPs have limited lifespans based on technology, GoFigure is immune from that if it's controlled from the current iteration of any smartphone on the market. it's the best remote control.

I don't own a smartphone.
And I have no immediate plans to buy one either.

I have a small Samsung mobile phone which I use for phone calls.
A really small foldable little thing that fits easily in basically any pocket.
I paid 30€ for it and it is and was an open phone not locked to any specific company or subscription based plan.
I can fit it with any simcard I want and need wherever I happen to be on my travels and make calls all over the world much cheaper than via any locked iPhone or similar smartphone pushed on easily fooled consumers at 20-30 times the price of my phone plus hefty monthly bills on top.

Besides the whole idea of portable with DAPs and potentially, but not in practice with H2/2Go for me would be to have ONE small portable unit that does ONE thing VERY well, without ANY need for other accessories, playback music stored either internally or on sd card.
A screen for that would have been really SMART and competitive.
And regarding lifespan do these two toys run on H2s battery or how are they powered?

If they run on internal rechargable batteries like H2 I hope they have at least made them user exhangable when they die,which they will inevitably do one day.

My Hugo 1 died a few months ago and needs to be sent to Chord for a new battery at about the same price some all in one,smart unit DAPs sell for, to be brought back to life. How smart is that from a consumer and user point of view?

I don't like it when planned obsolence can be suspected from any company.
But I'd be interested to know in more detail than your:"based on technology" what makes specifically DAPs susceptible to limited lifespan?
If you know which ones to really avoid that'd be great to know.
Hugo 1 was disappointing enough for me in that respect.


Cheers CC

 

[andrewd01]

I like the idea of a small battery powered Roon endpoint. There are not many products of this type on the market. You can use a phone/ipod for this purpose but it is not ideal as the Roon connection gets dropped when the display times out. I would of preferred one small box instead of two that need to be plugged together by flimsy micro USB plugs. Also I would have preferred a minimalist approach on buttons and outputs. Just a single power button and only USB output would be better.

I look forward to hearing reviews on sound quality compared to other alternatives like a CCA, ipod etc. Hopefully Chord will do a bundle price that is a bit more palatable than the sum of the price of the two items quoted upthread.

 

[supervisor]

I don't own a smartphone.
And I have no immediate plans to buy one either.
I have a small Samsung mobile phone which I use for phone calls.
A really small foldable little thing that fits easily in basically any pocket.
I paid 30€ for it and it is and was an open phone not locked to any specific company or subscription based plan.
I can fit it with any simcard i want and need whereever I happen to be on my travels and make calls all over the world much cheaper than via any locked iPhone pushed on easily fooled consumers at 20-30 times the price of my phone.
Besides the whole idea of portable with DAPs and potentially, but not in practice with H2/2Go for me would be to have ONE small portable unit that does ONE thing VERY well, without need for other accessories, playback music stored either internally or on sd card.
And regarding lifespan do these two toys run on H2s battery or how are they powered?
If they run on internal batteries I hope they have at least made them user exhangable when they die, which they will inevitably do one day.
My Hugo 1 died a few months ago and needs to be sent to Chord for a new battery at about the same price some all in one,smart unit DAPs sell for. How smart is that from a consumer and user point of view?
I don't like it when planned obsolence can be suspected from any company.
But I'd be interested to know in more detail than your:"based on technology" what makes specifically DAPs susceptible to limited lifespan?

Cheers CC

I guess you are not the demographic for a Poly or a 2GO then. you are in the minority as someone who does not own smartphone--which is fine--but don't act like it's not the case!

DAPs become outdated due to advances in processor/memory/OS technology.

 

[474194]

First, I'm happy for the users that fit this use case for them. I truly hope it works out for them.

Second, I'm a big fan of Chord if RW is leading the project. If RW is not involved, Chord is just another high-end brand. So to me, this is just another high-end audio product. I'm not a salesman so not pushing a brand, but I'm inspired by the DAC designer.

Third, I want optical purity. Not no USB conversion complication. Why not purity? You have Chord DAC's, why wouldn't you want a pure solution? On the Rpi, the data goes straight to i2s to the optical decoder. Zero USB involvement.

For icing on the cake, I want my "Now Playing" track to load into RAM before playing. Rpi does this, I assume 2go plays off the microSD card like every other device:

For those who don't know, RAMdisk is one of the most high-performance methods for audiophiles in the world, and although I've never read anything about it in this forum and only have a personal friend who has tested before me, I've read a lot, a lot , much information in international scope, where it seems that the theme is more evolved. Reducing latency and high throughput is only a small part of the benefits. If that weren't enough, I've never heard any "original" setup, with SSD, SD card, M.2, or anything else, that delivers audio quality as good as RAMdisk. For me, it's the best, but what I don't know is if there are different RAM models that deliver different sonorities (Corsair vs. Kingston; Kingston vs. Crucial; Corsair vs. GSkill; e.g.).

AO

I can run this off a small footprint or a desktop footprint:

I can rotate Anker battery packs at will. Don't have to worry about expensive battery replacement or shipping into limbo-land.

The same components but branded and marked up can be found in other audio brands with a similar cost as the 2go:

The Bryston BDP-Pi digital music players let you hear a perfect replica of high resolution studio masters with incredible detail and breathtaking realism.

https://www.moon-audio.com/bryston-bdp-pi-digital-player.html

One can also program a full IR remote control to navigate their music if you don't want to use a smartphone.

I try to play as close to the master source if possible, so I don't want an complications; just purity.

I believe I maxed out the Chord DAC with close to master source => pure optical => glass optical cable => Chord DAC.

This falls inline with RW optimal philosophy: Solid battery-power + pure optical...

For the best depth for your Chord DACs... pure optical... Why have more of a 2d wide sound when you can increase it's depth to something more 3d.

All this for a very reasonable cost if you are willing to spend 10 minutes on physical install and 10-20 minutes on configuration via web browser.

Zero RFI noise, Zero ground loops. Easy replacements and compat with future Chord DACs.

With a glass optical cable, you have the crispness of USB without the USB harshness. Glass optical is neutral, natural and life-like...

For my front-end I run Ipeng by a German developer:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ipeng/id767266886

http://penguinlovesmusic.de/ipeng-8/

1 decade of development and refinement makes for a polished product and UI.

That's my "Killer" app. Doesn't affect/manipulate SQ, just a dumb terminal like a IR remote control. Everything runs on the back-end. No silly apps that re-sample on top of Android/iOS re-sampling. No daisy-chaining apps on one another. No this app depends on this app to run this app. I don't believe Poly has a "Killer" app. Might as well have my IR remote control manipulate SQ too.

For the back-end, I run Squeezebox which a backed by a multi-billion dollar company in Logitech.

The $10k Antipodes runs Squeezebox so there is no questioning SQ:

https://antipodes.audio/squeezebox/

This has 2 decades of development and refinement.

And to ensure I get enough power bandwidth, I'm using a 'DC' power-only 5-layered shielded Gotham USB cable. No USB data.